David Troy Palmer (born 28 June 1976 in Lithgow,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

) is an Australian retired professional squash player. He won the Super Series finals in 2002, the World Open in 2002 and 2006; the British Open in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2008; and the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

in 2008. He attained World No. 1 ranking in September 2001 and again (for one month) in February 2006.

Career overview

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Palmer won a Gold Medal with partner Zac Alexander in the men's doubles. At the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

, Palmer won a men's singles Silver Medal after losing in the final to

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's Peter Nicol. At the same 2006 Commonwealth Games he also won Bronze Medals in the men's doubles (partner Dan Jensen) and the mixed doubles (partner Rachael Grinham). In the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

he won Bronze Medals in both the men's singles and the men's doubles (partner Paul Price). In technical terms, Palmer plays a classic all-court attrition game with hard-hitting attacking shots from his opponent's loose shots. He is known for the power of his striking, and the strength of his physical play, contributed to by rigorous attention to fitness. His training regime involves completing the multi-stage fitness test five times with a three-minute break between tests. Palmer has served as president of the

Professional Squash Association The Professional Squash Association, or simply the PSA, is the governing body for the men's and women's professional Squash (sport), squash circuit. The body operates in a similar fashion to the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP and the ...

(PSA). Following the 2004 World Doubles Squash Championships in

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, he was banned from playing in events run by the World Squash Federation (WSF) for 13 months after a disciplinary panel found him guilty of verbally abusing the referee. In 2009, Palmer was approached by the Wallabies coach

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Saitama Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans prev ...

to help increase his team fitness. Following his retirement as a professional squash player in 2011, Palmer maintained his status as a successful, high-level coach at his David Palmer Squash Academy in Orlando, Florida. In November 2016, Palmer made his college squash coaching debut as he was named The James Broadhead '57 Head Coach of Squash at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. Palmer now leads both the men's and women's squash team at Cornell University in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

World Open final appearances

2 titles & 1 runner-up

Major World Series final appearances

British Open: 4 finals (4 titles, 0 runner-up)

Hong Kong Open: 1 final (1 title, 0 runner-up)

Qatar Classic: 4 finals (0 title, 4 runner-up)

US Open: 3 finals (1 title, 2 runner-up)

Commonwealth Games final appearances

Total medals won, 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze

Career statistics

Singles performance timeline (since 1999)

''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded.'' ''Note:'' NA = Not Available

References

External links